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Z8 Owners Survey: Technical, Service, Mobility related concerns

BMW Z8 Club e.V. has a display there within the BMW Group exhibit. I am sure we will meet with representatives from BMW Classic again this year. It would be interesting to know what kind of technical, service and mobility related issues visitors of this board currently are experiencing with their Z8s.

Please respond by March 15th so that I can compile a spreadsheet of what is on this forum's mind and what should be addressed by BMW.

Please keep it brief and to the point and add your country of registration and current mileage to your feedback.

The biggest thing is getting parts for all the known issues that will correct those issues for once and always. New dashboards with better glue, head lamps that don't for, tail lamps with neon looking lifelong LED's, radio unit repair and refurb are the first that spring to mind.

Andrew Macpherson

Expert Z8 Inspections, with full support for both Z8 sale and purchases.

I have seen all weak points of the car too. I am still concerned about the working of the airbags. I have seen a lot of pictures of crashed Z8 where the airbags are not deployed. Last year BMW did a recall on the 3 Series from the same manufacturing period and the same maker (Takana) Coincidence or did they forget to check our car?

Right now I'm not experiencing any but I have experienced most of the usual issues in the past. One worry I have is the long term damage the ethanol in the fuel is doing to our motors.

Im in New York.

Jerry, what fuel related problems have you encountered?

My fuel problem related experience so far only has been with cars that have been sitting for a long time (over a year or so). I only use Shell or Chevron Premium. Both my Z8s are 2001 models and in the high 20k / low 30k miles range. One of them I only get to drive 2 or 3 times a year. Neither one appears to have fuel related issues at this point.

I have seen no problems so far but I've seen various parts (fuel regulator) wearing out on cars from pre 2003, just like our Z8s. The ethanol is the culprit. I use Shell too but sometimes Mobil. I'm just saying thats on my watch list.

One of the biggest impact issues I've experienced (and a few others have also) is when the fuel door won't open with the electric solenoid OR the manual release cable. It appears to be a plastic part in the chain that disconnects for some reason (as in my case) or breaks. The reason this is such a big impact is obvious...without gas you're stuck!

Thank you Christian for taking up this topic with BMW Classics. As a follow up to the above recommendations, I believe it would be beneficial to both BMW and its customers to develop preventative maintenance kits based on time intervals. For example, developing now a 15 year cycle kit with headlight lenses, neon lights, leather dash, gas door mechanism, etc at a discounted pre-purchase price would give owners an incentive to consider such maintenance while providing BMW a more predictable supply chain of parts and also ensuring its halo sports car is well preserved. Just a thought...

Ed, I really think you are on to something here. Various mobility kits to cover known soft spots and limited life cycle parts for preventive maintenance, based on mileage and time factor. I will definitely bring it up when meeting with our fellow Z8 Club members in Germany.

For what its worth my car is getting it's major 12 year service right now, and based on the history of our cars one of the things i'm doing is replacing all the O2 & Cam Position sensors, as well as a steering sensor that seems to have gone bad. It seems the sensors are weak links in an otherwise very strong engine, so doing a full replacement kit could be good.

My car also has a leaking valve cover, and I seem to remember a few other have suffered that too, so a gasket and filter set, along with belts and tensioners might be good too.

I know there's been talk of replacing the hoses every ten years or so, but all mine are in perfect condition, and so we decided to leave them be for the moment.

Andrew Macpherson

Expert Z8 Inspections, with full support for both Z8 sale and purchases.

Christian, I've made this a sticky until the meeting, and also wanted to add the LED taillight replacement idea as the $10,000 to replace the rear lights is just ridiculous. If BMW can't make parts at a reasonable price, then we have to. Please bring this up at the board meeting, and see if they are interested in starting an alternative manufacturing.

Andrew Macpherson

Expert Z8 Inspections, with full support for both Z8 sale and purchases.

Christian,
not sure if this has happened to others, but my California Z8 would sometimes misfire when cold, so I had it taken to the dealer and they found that the coil packs had failed and the misfiring had fouled the plugs and that was causing the misfiring. Not sure if anyone else has experienced that problem. The car has 21,050 milestone good part is that the parts were readily available and did not need months to get them from Germany.
thanks,
Manuel